Nitrousbird Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 It's all about supply and demand, right?? With this extended amount of unseasonably warm weather, we obviously aren't using nearly as much natural gas as normally would be used. And obviously the Natural Gas companies ramped up production of winter, as normally it is in heavy use. Supply and demand would make me "think" that the prices would be lower (as in lower per unit used, not just a lower bill because you use less). God knows if the demand is crazy they will charge more per unit. Anyone think the price will actually go down, or will we just be padding pockets of the natural gas companies as usual? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 We will just put more in their pockets. They have Christmas to pay for. Law of supply and demand doesn't really seem to apply to gas, as the demand is so high they could charge way more than they even do now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copperhead Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Kinda straying from the topic a bit... Now that the Dem's are in office, they plan on cutting government support to oil company's. I agree with the fact that they shouldn't be getting government support when they are making record profits, BUT if we cut government funding, are they going to raise prices in order to keep making these record profits? Or will the consumer be left alone, and prices will continue to be based off of whatever voodoo it's currently based off of? I would also like to mention that I just read within the last few days that the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to it's lowest point in the past 1.5 years. Why is gas still at $2.20 a gallon, instead of back under the two dollar mark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAOLE Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Kinda straying from the topic a bit... Now that the Dem's are in office, they plan on cutting government support to oil company's. I agree with the fact that they shouldn't be getting government support when they are making record profits, BUT if we cut government funding, are they going to raise prices in order to keep making these record profits? Or will the consumer be left alone, and prices will continue to be based off of whatever voodoo it's currently based off of? I would also like to mention that I just read within the last few days that the price of a barrel of oil has dropped to it's lowest point in the past 1.5 years. Why is gas still at $2.20 a gallon, instead of back under the two dollar mark? This always frustrates me....Someone please point out a goverment program that the oil companies are on that gives them support! To the best of my knowledge there is none! Maybe I am wrong, but every time someone makes a statement like that they NEVER have an answer. If you are tired of 2.20/galon fuel. Tell the Government to stop taxing the gas so much. In Ohio over $.40/ gallon is tax. The oil companies only make about $.10/gallon according to the Energy Information Administration. Here is a graphic from the U.S. dept. of energy showing the break down of the cost associated with exploration, production, and marketing: http://www.conocophillips.com/NR/rdonlyres/137CC855-EF59-4EDE-BD03-A645CE075EFF/0/ProfitsGasPump1thru112006ave.gif It is not Voodoo it is free market... my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiumss Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Joe are you kidding or what? Of course the prices won't drop, the big oil companies are greedy bastards. Have you read/seen in the news that OPEC came out and said freely that if oil prices continue to fall they will cut production to raise the price of oil. They like those Billion dollar profits every quarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragknee66 Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Ya, the whole topic of high price gas and them making high profits fucking makes me very angry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 They don't care. Gas just dropped to $55 a barrel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr3GTP Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 A weather-related price drop? I can answer that in 3 words; Ha ha ha! They don't have to "refine" natural gas. All they do is pipe it, store it, add a chemical so we can smell it, and sell it. Because they couldn't sell as much, they'll make up some bullshit excuse why they have to charge more for what they do sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilbillyhomeboy Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 It's already been voluntarily dropped twice where I live. So, to answer your question..."yes", because it's already happened. *warning, going off on a related tangent* If you want to talk about gasoline and the way end user prices are set all you have to do is follow the futures market. THAT is what determines the price of retail gasoline. Excepting a catastrophic disaster (read: Katrina). Price gouging would only come in to play if the cost of oil wasn't so high. If the actual cost to procure oil and refine it into gasoline cost them $1/gallon and they were selling it for $4/gallon...that is gouging. If the price that Exxon pays for oil goes up 20% and they raise gas prices 20%...but none of us know the actual figures so... The profits of Exxon aren't solely based on sales at the pump, most profits are generated by other means. There are oil companies that aren't making as much money as well, Exxon isn't the *only* one out there. I don't like the high cost of gas either, I don't like the big profits oil companies make, but there is a *lot* more involved here than pump gasoline. It's like saying an earthquake wasn't so bad because "only 100 people died", not looking at the fact that thousands of buildings were destroyed, fires ravaged the city, and power will be out for weeks.... I don't know why everybody is so upset about the oil companies profit, because it is actually much less than many other industries. Exxon Mobil had a Net Profit Margin (NPM) of 9.7% in 2005. That means that for every $1 of revenue, they made a profit of 9.7 cents. BP had a NPM of 6.0%, and Chevron was 7.1%. On the other hand, Microsoft had an NPM of 30.8%, Glaxosmithkline 15.4%, Bank of America 19.6%, and McDonalds 12.7%. Heck, even Coke made 21.1%. Where are all of the people up in arms about the profits of these companies? Coke is making more profit from the bottles of Dasani water that you buy than the Oil companies make from your gas, but that's not making the front page of the news. The reason the oil companies are/were making record profits is because the price of oil had gone up significantly. But the oil companies do not control the price of oil. They just happen to benefit when it goes up. Here's a very simplified example: Let's say you sell widgets. It cost you $90 to buy the materials and have the widgets assembled. You sell your widgets for $100, so you have a net profit of $10, or a NPM of 10% ($10/$100). Let's say for reasons beyond your control, the price of your material goes up to $180, so you start selling your widgets for $200, so your profit doubles to $20, but your NPM remains at 10% ($20/$200). Your profit margin remains the same, you aren't trying to screw anybody, but you have record profits because the cost of your product went up due to circumstances beyond your control. This is basically what is happening to oil companies. They aren't screwing people, just making money in a capitalist society. It's not their fault gas prices are high. Here's a nice explanation. I know it's on ConocoPhillips website, but it's still good information. http://www.conocophillips.com/newsr...oil_profits.htm If we want cheaper gas, we need to get the price of oil down. And for that, we need less dependency on foreign oil. Let's drill in Alaska. Let's get oil out of the shale in Colorado. Let's build more refineries. And let's get all of the states to agree on one blend of gas. Every state has it's own requirement for what blend of gas can be sold, so the refineries have to make many different types, which costs money. This cost gets passed on to the consumer. And let's not forget, while the oil companies make a few pennies of profit for every gallon of gas sold, the government collects taxes of up to 70 cents per gallon, depending on what state you are in! And for those of you who say we should tax these oil companies more (or any big business for that matter), remember, these companies don't really pay tax. They pass that cost on to the consumer. So if we raise taxes on them, they will just raise their prices to make up for it. Anyway, I don't like paying high prices for gas any more than the next guy, but let's not put blame where it doesn't belong. It is much more the governments fault than the oil companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Nothing affects gas prices except how greedy they are feeling that day. You think we would have learned that by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Well just to defend the american oil companies a little I will at least explain how they could get record profits from these "high" prices without lifting a finger. Lets say OPEC is charging $50 per barrel and after all overhead and taxes Chevron makes 10% profit. Thats 5 bucks profit per barrel. Now lets say OPEC cuts production or for some reason the price ends up being $70 per barrel. Well now Chevron without moving there profit margin of 10% ends up getting $7 per barrel profit. You see even without doing anything since profit is percentage based they are going to make more money. Are we really expecting them to drop there profit margin to 0.0715% or so just to keep from getting the money the earned. Sure that wouldn't be a bad idea from a PR stand point. It would keep our attention off of them and shifted towards OPEC where it really should be focused anyway. We should just invade the middle east and steal there oil fair and square. Then they can work in factories and stuff making us nice toys to buy with all our money. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAOLE Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Yet another reason for high energy cost....Goverment at its best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr3GTP Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 Yet another reason for high energy cost....Goverment at its best! The same dipshits who blame Bush & his "big oil buddies" for high prices. Go figure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
controler Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 It is much more the governments fault than the oil companies. You are on the right track here. Yes the government and some people with a lot of money, ie. Hedge Funds. The government (Bush's cabinet) has never stopped increasing the Strategic Patroleum Reserve (SPR) since he got into office. Exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do. Draw from the SPR when oil prices were high or a crisis, and fill it when it was low or oil was cheap. We are currently at peak levels in the SPR. I can only ask why... to help his buddy's back in Texas make even more money? I also believe the market for oil is somewhat manipulated by large hedge funds with billion of dollars to keep buying oil. If you watch the price per barrel of oil every day, there is almost always a pump between 2:15 and 2:30 when the NYMEX closes. Why couldn't they buy the same oil earlier in the day instead of runing it up into the close? To create artificial demand. I've made and lost some money in the price of oil going up and down, but I stay out of the sector these days because the big boys rule the show and you can get burned easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Rex Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 Changing the subject a bit, or maybe going back to the orginal subject: Does/Has anyone every used another company for their gas besides Columbia Gas? I get phone calls all the time about a "lower" fixed rate for a certain amount of time from another company however I just flat out don't believe some of these companies. Fuck Gasoline companies, Biodiesel FTMFW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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